Bridging Thought and Tongue: Critical Thinking Skills and Their Impact on Advancing ELT Outcomes

Arts & Humanities: English

Critical thinking (CT) skills are an important component in effective English language teaching (ELT). This paper explores the relationship between CT skills and ELT by reviewing relevant literature. CT skills refer to the ability to analyze information objectively, make logical connections between ideas, evaluate evidence and arguments, solve problems systematically, and reflect on viewpoints critically. Research shows that language teachers with higher CT dispositions design more student-centered, interactive activities focusing on real communication. They emphasize tasks promoting meaningful language use, critical discussion, and analysis. Rather than just transmitting knowledge, these teachers help students develop their own CT and language abilities. Students of CT-skilled teachers show greater improvement over time in English proficiency, cognitive academic skills, and CT competencies. The paper discusses theories explaining this impact - CT allows teachers to be more deliberate, strategic, and reflective in pedagogical decision-making. Enhancing teacher CT through preservice and in-service training may therefore lead to higher quality ELT. The development of critical educators helps strengthen the critical capacities of their students. More research can further clarify the mechanisms of this relationship and inform CT training models useful for ELT contexts.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.